Analysis of Air and Soil Quality Regarding the Cross-Border Impact Risk of the Mining Tailings Ponds in Moldova Nouă Area

Abstract

This paper concerns to the air and soil pollution in the area of tailings ponds in Moldova Nouă, situated on Danube bank, near the Romania-Serbia border. The tailings ponds resulted from mining operations since the previous century, represent now a source of historical pollution in the area, especially on air quality, through dispersal of tailings dust on large surfaces. Depending on weather conditions, especially in case of drought periods, the wind of various intensities raises the dust and disperses it, affecting land surfaces: urban, tourist, agricultural, protected areas of community interest, like RAMSAR Iron Gates Natural Park-Divici-Pojejena Wetland. The dispersion has a direct effect on human health because of its chemical composition, which may contain SiO2 and heavy metals like Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni, etc. Results were obtained following several field measurements of dust particles concentrations at various critical points, in corroboration with laboratory analyses of their content. For the study of the pollutants dispersion, the Breeze AERMOD model was used for obtaining cross-border pollution maps, respectively of the historical pollution by the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil from the immediate vicinity of the analysed area.

Case study on The Assessment of Air Quality and Pollution in a Sensitive Area of Bucharest

“…Parallel to the campaign to measure air quality parameters, the number of automobiles transiting the area was also monitored. This type of investigation is frequently used in the field, both nationally and internationally [8,9]. For instance, in China, to assess the impact of traffic in an experiment to determine PM10 concentrations as a function of distance from the source, during monitoring the number of vehicles passing on the Qianjin road in both directions was recorded three times per hour for one minute, along with the number and time of passing trucks [10].…”

Study of the influence of road traffic emissions on air quality in sensitive areas of the Bucharest city, using Breeze Aermod software

“…In urban areas in particular, the concentration of NO released from traffic affects the formation of NO2 [9]. The concentrations of NO2 in the atmospheric air are evaluated by reference to the hourly limit value (200 μg/m 3 ) [10] PM10 -The sources of origin can be natural (wind erosion) and anthropogenic (combustion from the energy sector, the metallurgical and chemical industry, construction sites, road transport, municipal waste dumps, individual heating systems, especially those using solid fuels) [11], [12]. PM10 could contain a wide variety of microelements (carbon, heavy metals, iron oxides, sulphates, etc.)…”

“…PM10 could contain a wide variety of microelements (carbon, heavy metals, iron oxides, sulphates, etc.) and falls into the category of breathable particulate [13] with a high impact on human health, especially in the case of chronic exposure [8]. The concentrations of suspended dust with a diameter of less than 10 microns in the ambient air are assessed using the daily limit value (50 g/m 3 and the annual limit value (40 g/m 3 ) [10].…”

Human Health Effects of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Cross-Border Area of Romania and Serbia: A Review

“…These data illustrate the risk of air pollution especially in the area adjacent to the tailing ponds in Moldova Noua, but air pollution is also observed in the cross border area of the S-W of Romania. Recent measurements made in the region of Moldova Noua (Romania) under windy conditions revealed that the daily limit values for PM10 concentrations (according to Law 104/2011 [23], Directive 2008/50/EC Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe [24]), were exceeded in the areas adjacent to the surface source [25]. The first step in managing air quality issues is to assess air quality.…”

“…Earlier studies concerning the soil pollution with heavy metals were done around the tailing ponds Tausani-Bosneag, near Moldova Noua. These studies emphasized the presence of various heavy metals in the sterile and soil samples near the tailing ponds, as presented in Table 7 [25,39,40]. The differences between the concentrations presented in Table 5 are due to the fact that samples were collected from distinct points and in different meteorological conditions (temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind velocity, precipitations).…”